speculative designs for urban agricultures

EU's FutureFarm on Year Two of Wired EuroFarming

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Glut7g1TWhQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&] 3 Billion dollars worth of software management is going into the EU FutureFarm project. Here’s the scoop on this standardized farm management information system: This short film, first presented at Agritechnica 2009, shows the concept developed within the EU FP7 project “FutureFarm” for a service-oriented architecture for delivering knowledge about farm management and crop [...]

November 30th, 2009
Topic: Robotics Technology in the Garden Tags: , , ,

Future Robotics Technologies Will Shape Production Process of Vegges

Says the folks responsible for that future: Manipulation is the key issue for robotics to apply to the agricultural industry,” said Jeff Legault, associate director of business development at the National Robotics Engineering Center, Carnegie Mellon University. Creating robots with the ability to harvest produce as quickly and gently has humans won’t be possible for [...]

November 30th, 2009
Topic: Innovations in the Field of Robotics, Robots are the Future Let's have Socially Responsible Ones Shall We Tags: , , , ,

Robotic Farms of the Past Future [or Future Past]

Lots of great tidbits from Paleo-Future, including: Superfarm in the year 2020 Epcot’s The Future World of Agriculture 1984 1983′s Our Future Needs (World of Tomorrow)

November 30th, 2009
Topic: Robots are the Future Let's have Socially Responsible Ones Shall We Tags: None

Carnegie Mellon's SnackBot

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KAQa_I0Vxc&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&feature=player_embedded&fs=1] Although the focus of this site is exploring agricultural robots, we will definitely make room for some sweet, sweet robot butlers. <blockquote>CMU’s Snackbot is a roving wheeled ‘bot who’s primary purpose is to roam the halls of the University’s buildings, delivering tasty treast to students and faculty. Snackbot not only drives around bringing snacks, [...]

November 9th, 2009
Topic: Innovations in the Field of Robotics, Robotics in the Kitchen Tags: , ,

N Tech Industries and the Green Seeker

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfNBlB32TGM&hl=en&fs=1&] Traditional industrial agriculture relies on large scale application of pesticides that work hand in hand with genetically modified crops. Researchers at Oklahoma State University have developed a soil sensing mechanism that deploys site-specific amounts of chemicals. To quote the short film: This is precision agriculture at it’s best. The environment is spared unnecessary spraying [...]

November 4th, 2009
Topic: Robots are the Future Let's have Socially Responsible Ones Shall We Tags: , ,

World's Fastest Picking Robot: Quattro

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTz1MAasQq8&hl=en&fs=1&] One of the many challenges in imagining how robotics can aid organic farming is the question of Why. Why should technologies intervene in age-old production techniques? Isn’t modern organic farming a direct response and alternative to industrial food production? These are great questions, and ones that I am sure this project will have to [...]

November 4th, 2009
Topic: Innovations in the Field of Robotics, Robots are the Future Let's have Socially Responsible Ones Shall We Tags: None

Bolivian Students Prototype Agribot

Students in Bolivia prototyped a robot they designed to help indigenous farmers moderate their soil chemicals. Reports the University of New Mexico: Sergio ValencÍa Cordova, Rodrigo López and Sergio Saavedra from the Universidad Privada Boliviana presented their automated agricultural robot as part of the student competition at the Ibero-American Science and Technology Education Consortium (ISTEC) [...]

November 4th, 2009
Topic: Robotics Technology in the Garden, Student Projects Tags: , , , ,